Metro
HONORING A LEGEND
A Chat With
George Cantor
The Jewish News' award-winning columnist reflects on
his city, his family and his lifetime in Detroit journalism.
George Cantor has been the Jewish News Opinion Page columnist and an occasional
editorial writer for the past seven years — after spending decades as a sports
reporter, travel writer, editorialist and columnist at the Detroit Free Press and
Detroit News as well as a local TV commentator and the author of many books with
sports, travel or historical themes. In recent months, he has been struggling with the
twin maladies of advanced prostate cancer and crippling Gaucher's disease.
On Wednesday, April 14, George, at age 68, will receive the Lifetime
Achievement Award from the Detroit Chapter of the Society of Professional
Journalists at its annual dinner in Troy. George recently reflected on his illustrious
career in a conversation with Jewish News' Senior Copy Editor David Sachs.
: People comment all the time
about how much they enjoy
reading your JN"Reality
Checle'cohunns — like your recent tale
about how a bad cell phone connection
mistakenly threw your wife, Sherry,
into a panic, thinking your baby grand-
daughter (not her stroller) was missing.
A: I've found there's nothing better than
family matters when writing a column as
long as there's a point that can be applied
to other families, too. That's the secret
of writing a column — universality. The
more people the column applies to, the
greater response it's going to get.
Q
Q: You really connect with the Jewish
News readers when you talk about the
old neighborhoods.
A: Every time I write about the old days
at Central High or Mumford, I always get a
response. But, here's a precaution ... don't
ever try to go back! When my kids were
very young, I thought I'd take them to the
apartment where I grew up. It was on the
corner of LaSalle and Elmhurst. Well, it
was gone — I mean nothing remained.
And that was 25 years ago.
But, I still dream about that place. Just
the other night, I dreamt they had turned
it into a luxury apartment house. These are
parts of my past that I've lost, but apparent-
ly I'm not quite ready to give up on them.
Q: Do you see any hope for Detroit
with Mayor Dave Bing and the schools'
emergency financial manager, Robert
Bobb?
A: Well, those are good people — but I
don't know if you can fix a boat that's cap-
sized. I wish them luck, but I don't think
you can reverse it. Maybe, at least, you can
give the improvements a chance to catch
up with the decline.
Q: So, how are you feeling?
A: Good days, bad days. My knees are
really the focus of my problems right now
The Jewish News has been carrying good
articles on Gaucher's disease.
Q: Is Gaucher's more of a problem
than your prostate cancer?
A: No, but it hurts — often severely.
Q: How is the cancer treatment going?
A: We've managed to keep it at bay, and
there's no further deterioration. The doc-
tors, of course, are very eager to test any
new drug. I don't think most of them have
ever seen prostate cancer and Gaucher's
disease in the same patient.
Q: You've followed in the footsteps
of a lot of great sports writers who
became general columnists — like Doc
Greene and Pete Waldmeir.
A: Sports reporting trains your pow-
ers of observation — how to describe
what you see happening in a concise
and entertaining fashion. It was the best
training I think I could have received.
Following a team through a pennant
race is just as dramatic and fast moving
as anything you'll experience as a jour-
nalist.
Emotional Detroit Tiger fan George Cantor with his wife, Sherry (sporting a Mah
Jongg T-shirt about three years ago), will be honored next week by fellow journalists.
Q: Does sports serve as a metaphor?
A: Oh, yeah ... for many things. Like
politics or a natural disaster!
Q: Last year's Tigers team just miss-
ing winning the pennant on the final
day of the season was certainly a disas-
ter. I'm beginning to appreciate the
1984 World Champion Tigers more and
more. Several of them should have been
named to the Hall of Fame.
A: What a travesty that Trammell and
Whitaker didn't go in together. The longest
double-play combination in baseball history.
And they both hit with power and ran well.
Q: A black guy and a white guy like
blood brothers.
A: Sure, on either side of second base.
Maybe it's another book that I should get
my nose into writing.
Q: I was surprised to learn about all
the racism that the 1968 Tiger team
dealt with — particularly in spring
training in Florida.
A: It was certainly there. Lakeland at
that time of my first year, 1966, was a
segregated, redneck town. Disney World,
which really changed the social param-
eters, didn't open for another five years.
Q: The black players had to sleep in
separate accommodations?
A: The Tigers' management insisted that
it was by choice — that the black players
didn't want to stay at that big old mean
Holiday Inn with their teammates. So they
became boarders at these ramshackle
houses where they couldn't take their
wives. The establishment was so blind.
And they wondered why Detroit blew up
the next year. You can only take so much
of that b.s.
Q: You've had your heart broken
many times as Tiger fan.
A: Last Labor Day weekend, Sherry and
I drove to a wedding in Boston and back.
I remember on that Sunday, Brandon Inge
won the game with a grand slam home
run in the ninth inning. And the two of us
Cantor on page 14
Jr4
April 8 • 2010
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